Public Statements

Press Release

Today, House Republicans defeated Rep. Ted Deutch's effort to stop Congress from awarding U.S. taxpayer-owned land to a multinational corporation that does business with the Iranian regime. H.R. 1904 transfers land to Resolution Copper, a subsidiary of the multinational mining conglomerate Rio Tinto, which co-owns the Rossing uranium mine in Namibia with the regime-owned Iran Foreign Investment Company.

"Today, the GOP put a giveaway to special interests ahead of preserving US sanctions and preventing a nuclear-armed Iran," said Congressman Deutch. "The Iran Foreign Investment Company is wholly owned by the Iranian regime and has been targeted by the Treasury Department for violating sanctions law. This bill not only shortchanges taxpayers, it rewards tax dollars to a company that partners with the Iranian regime to mine, of all things, the uranium it needs to become a nuclear-armed power."

Iran has made its intentions well-known, plotting assassinations on U.S. soil, supporting Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, and threatening to wipe Israel off the map, all the while defying the international community with its illicit quest for nuclear weapons. Rep. Deutch's amendment would simply prevent any land exchange with a company or affiliate connected to the Iran Foreign Investment Company, without blocking the bill from coming up for a vote. Republicans defeated the measure by a vote of 237 to 187.